WRIGHT COUNTY, MN  The post-election review conducted in Wright County Wednesday showed the system worked exactly the way it was supposed to.

Wright County Auditor-Treasurer Bob Hiivala described the process.

The county re-counted three precincts out of the 39 in the county.

They were chosen at random in a drawing conducted by members of the county canvassing board.

These precincts, Franklin Township and two of the four precincts (number one and number two) in the City of Buffalo, represent about 4,200 ballots, or about 8.75 percent of the 48,000 ballots cast in the county, according to Hiivala.

The ballots have been secured since the election.

Last Wednesday, nine people (three from each precinct) recounted the 4,200 ballots by hand  twice. Once for the gubernatorial race between Mark Dayton, Tom Emmer, and Tom Horner, and once for the congressional race between Michele Bachmann and Tarryl Clark.

The process was observed by representatives from the Dayton and Emmer campaigns, as well as a citizens’ group.

Hiivala’s staff was also present during the process.

“There were no discrepancies with what the machines counted,” Hiivala said. “We can rely on those machines.”

He added that the machines are checked for accuracy both before and after the election.

The process of re-counting the ballots from the three precincts took about two-and-a-half hours.

Regarding the state recount of the governor’s race, which is expected to start Monday, Nov. 29, Hiivala said Wright County is prepared.

“We’re ready,” Hiivala said. “We’ve been through it before, and we know what we are going to do.”